Hold on!

Hands, feet,
and tails
 The Photographer with
a Tale about a Tail
By John Grandits
September 2020 Volume 23 Number 7 [Link] $6.95 Illustrated by Paige Billin-Frye

When you’re little, The skink is a tiny

it’s a good idea to lizard. Her brown color
have ways to protect helps her blend in with
yourself from bigger the rocks and dirt
animals. where she lives.

Full tail
Tail broken off
If that doesn’t work
and a hungry animal
tries to bite her tail,
she has an even cooler
trick.

Her tail breaks

off, so she can run Losing her tail
away. doesn’t hurt, and
she’ll soon grow a
new one.

I have a tail too. But

I would hate to lose it,
even for a little while.
 ks Cl os er
oo
L
Click
Tall Tails
W ho’s on our cover?
A ring-tailed lemur.
Ring-tails are one
of more than 100
different kinds of lemurs
found on the island of
Madagascar. Almost all
lemurs have long, furry
tails. But only ring-tails
hold theirs straight
up, so everyone in the
group can see them
and stay together.

Follow
that tail.

2
 Jane! Look at
these animal tracks.
They’re coming from
the pond. I bet an
alligator made them!

But if we play detective, maybe we can

At this pond? solve the mystery of the muddy tracks.
I don’t think so.

OK, let’s follow

There seem to be two
the clues!
sets of tracks now.

3
 A different kind
JANE! LOOK
of animal must
WHAT I FOUND!
have made
these. They don’t
look the same as
the others.

Shh, those are skunk tracks! If

we startle the skunk, we could
get sprayed.

If we get sprayed, we
will stink for weeks.

Well, that’s I sure hope

one mystery these aren’t
solved. hungry lion
tracks.

I don’t think it’s a lion.

The only lion we’ve
Yes, but we still don’t ever seen around
know who made the here was at the zoo.
first tracks.

4
 They look
like they
belong to a
giant snake
Look! A with feet.
new set of
tracks.

I don’t know
if we should
follow those
footprints We have to
anymore. solve the
case.

We can’t stop
now. We’re
detectives.

Those tracks
belong to a
beaver.

See? Nothing
to be afraid of.

She must have been

dragging her tail while she
walked. That made the
snaky track.

5
 Look, more tracks
like the first ones we
found at the pond.

Come on.
Let’s solve
this mystery!

Now there are

two sets of
tracks again.

Our mystery animal

seems to have lots
of friends.
Excellent
deduction,
Detective
Click!

One set of
tracks just
stops right
here. Oh, of course.
That bird made
the footprints.
They stopped
when she flew into
the tree.
It’s as if
the animal
disappeared.

6
 But what made
the other set of
tracks? Uh-oh, whatever it
was seems to have
headed straight into
the clubhouse.

Do you hear IT’S COMING

Shhh, be very, very quiet. THIS WAY!
that noise?
SAVE ME!

I told you
it was an
alligator!

Hi, Click. Hi, Jane.

Have you seen the mop?
I tracked in all this mud from
the pond, and I need to
clean it up.

7
 Hands on Art
Hands come in handy when
you’re making art.
They’re great for
mixing paints, shaping
clay, and holding
crayons and scissors.
And they’re
perfect for
making
handprint
art!

8
 How? First make a
handprint. Brush finger
paint onto the palm and
fingers of your hand.
Press your painted hand
down on a piece of
paper. Gently lift your
hand away.
If you don’t like getting
your hands messy, trace
your hand onto the
paper instead.
Now use paint,
markers, cut paper, and
your imagination to
turn your handprint into
something new. Here are
some ideas to get you
started.

9
 How Long Is a Foot?

One foot on a ruler is

12 inches long. It’s the
same length on every
ruler. But an animal foot
does not have to be
12 inches long. Measure these footprints.
How does your foot compare?

10
 Turn the page
to find out who
these footprints
belong to.

11
 An African elephant’s footprint can
be 19 inches long, too big to fit on two
pages of Click. Its front feet are nearly
round, but its back feet are more oval
in shape.

Western lowland gorillas are

smaller than other types of gorillas, but
this male’s footprint is still 13 inches
long! Like all gorillas, it can move its
big toe the way you move your thumb
to grab and hold things.

A grizzly bear’s front paws are about

8 inches long, not including the claws.
Its back feet are even bigger. The claws
alone can be 4 inches, longer than your
fingers!

Does this footprint look like a little

human hand? A hedgehog’s front
feet are about an inch long and a little
more than an inch wide. Its back feet
are longer and narrower.

A mouse has four toes on its front feet

and five on its back feet. The back feet
are usually bigger, but they’re still less
than half an inch long.
12
 Talented Tails by Tracy Vonder Brink

Some tails
shelter from
the snow.

The arctic
fox uses its
fluffy tail like a
blanket.

A squirrel
curls its tail
over its back
like a coat.

13
 Some tails
guide which
way to go.
The flying
squirrel’s tail
steers its glide.

A
cheetah’s
tail gives it
balance to zip
and zoom.

A male
Some peacock shows
off his tail feathers
tails say, to attract a
“Come look mate.
at me.”

14
 A
male
turkey stands
straight, fans
out his tail, and
gobbles at a
female.

A
rattlesnake
shakes its tail to
Some tails say, “Leave me
alone, or I’ll
warn it’s bite!”
time to flee.

When a
skunk lifts its
tail and growls,
watch out! It’s
ready to spray. A rattlesnake’s
tail is made from
the same stuff as
your fingernails.

15
 Some tails
help out like
a hand.

A
chameleon’s
tail holds tight
to branches as it
moves through
trees.
The spider
monkey hangs A tail that can
from its tail, so its grab and hold is
called prehensile.
hands are free to
pick leaves and
fruit to eat.

The
Some tails meerkat
balances with
prop up like its tail to stand
a stand. and look for
enemies.

16
 To
hop slowly,
a kangaroo
balances on its
front legs and
pushes off with
its tail.

Some tails
wave and
twitch to
shoo.
The hair on
the end of a
giraffe’s tail
makes a good
flyswatter.
Zebras
stand head to
tail to wave bugs
away from each
other’s faces.

17
 But other
tails are
just plain
EW!

Stink fight! A
male ring-tailed
lemur rubs his tail
against a smelly part of
his body, then waves his
tail at another male.
The stinkiest tail
wins.

The male
hippo flicks his
tail back and forth
as he poops. Spraying
poop tells other males,
“This area belongs
to me!”

18
WHOSE FEET?

ng ect
mi erf
.
Big or small, hard or soft,

im p
sw foot
with toes or without, feet

for per
take you places. Ca yo o

lip
Af
A padded paw guess which anima s have
for
f r quiet steps. feet like thes

a t e r .
g o nw
k i n
al
w
es for

A foot that’
s
to

quite hand
y

y.
ca l
g s
n l o
f o

e t
s
A

A strong toe protected

by a hard hoof.

19
 himp’s foot looks
a
almost the same as
its hand. The big toe
and bends like a
thumb, so the chimp can
use its foot like a hand, to
hang from a tree branch
or grab a piece of fruit.

e long toes on a basilisk lizard’s back

t are fringed with skin-like scales.
he scales spread out when the basilisk
Th
r ns on water and create pockets of air
ha keep the lizard from sinking.

Thick pads on a tiger’s paws

help it sneak up on prey. Like
a house cat, a tiger can
pull its claws back into
a pocket of skin to keep
them from wearing down
when it walks.
20
 urtle’s front
flippers push through the
water like paddles. On
shore, a female uses her
flippers to crawl across
the sand and to dig a
nest for laying eggs.

A horse runs on its tiptoes. Each foot has

one long toe protected by a tough hoof
hat’s even stronger than bone.
tth

21
 To k a y
K ,
O

T
here are more than 1,000 kinds
of geckos. Some live in deserts,
some in jungles, and some on
mountains. They’re found
on every continent
but Antarctica. This
tokay gecko lives
high on a tree in
southeast Asia.
It rests during
the day and
comes out at
night to look for
bugs to eat.

22
 I’m hungry.

You
u can tell when
a tookay has been
eating a lot by
looking at its tail.
That’s where the tokay sto ores extra fat. It
uses the fat for energy
gy when it can’t find I’m
enough too eat. full.

Fat or skinny, the

tokay’s long tail
helps it balance.
When a gecko
climbs a slippery
surface or feels
like it might fall,
it presses its tail
down. The tail acts
like a fifth leg to
help keep the gecko
steady.

23
 What if the tokay
does fall? Or when
it takes a flying
leap? Its tail
helps it land
on its feet. By
twisting its tail, a
gecko can turn its
body, so it’s always
right-side up.

But geckos don’t fall often. They

are great climbers. They can scurry
straight up smooth walls and even
stick upside down to ceilings. How do
they do it? Hairy toes!

24
 The bottom of each toe is covered with
thousands of tiny hairs. And each of those
hairs ends in a bristly bunch of even tinier
hairs. When the teeny hairs get close
A gecko has five
enough to a surface, they form a kind padded toes
on each
of bond. A few hairs wouldn’t foot.

be able to hold the gecko up.

But because there are so
many, the gecko’s entire
weight is supported. The
gecko bends the hairs to
control how sticky—or
unsticky—they are.

The pads are covered in tiny,

branched hairs called setae.
Electric forces make the hairs stick
to surfaces. One type of electric
force is a bit like the one that makes
a balloon stick to things after you rub it
on your hair. By bending its hairs, a gecko
increases the area that touches a surface. The
more hairy bits that touch, the stickier the toes.

25
 B iing fast fearless
cli bers helps tokays
runn away from danger.
ut a gecko’s tail helps
keep it safe too. It has
k
bui t-in tearing lines, kind
of li e the ones on a roll of
papper towels. If a hungry
s ake gets too close, a tokay
q ickly drops the tip of its tail
and ru s aw y. e broken off, the
tail tip eeps iggling
for sever l minu
nutes. The tokay’s tail
will grow back
That hel s in about three
weeks.
confuse tthe
snake, wwho
doee ’t kno
which movi g
part to chase.
That is so cool!
I wish my tail
could do that.

Yay ,
Tokay
26
 Ta i ls t o Tell
by Susan Yoder Ackerman, art by Christine Grove

“It’s a flyswatter-lightbulb-
cupcake creature!” squealed Ana,
waving a colorful piece of paper.
Her brother Reed unfolded his
paper. “This one’s a . . . let’s
see . . . a poison dart–
marshmallow–heart beast!”
Leigha laughed. “Look
at this one! I’ll name
it whale tail–phone–
flower monster!”
Leigha’s mom
came into the
room. “You’re
text © 2020 by Susan Ackerman, art © 2020 by Christine Grove

doing art?” she

asked.
“No, Aunt
Jessica. We’re
playing Heads,
Bodies, and
Tails,” Ana said.
“Oh, how do
you play that?”
she asked.
27
 “You each get a sheet of paper
and draw a silly head on the top
third,” Reed told her. “You fold
that section back so nobody can
see it, then pass the paper
to the next person. Next
everyone draws a body
on the middle third, folds
that section back, and
passes the paper again.
Then everybody draws a tail
at the bottom. You open the
paper up and name the creatures
whatever they look like!”

“Poison darts? Flyswatters? Fantastic

tails,” said Aunt Jessica, laughing. “But
now you need to put your markers down
and go outside till dinner’s ready. Leigha,
take your cousins exploring. If it’s tails
you’re interested in, you might find
some out on the farm.”
Ana, Reed, and Leigha
grabbed some carrots and
headed out to the horse
pasture. Leigha’s dog,
Luna, was so happy
to join them her tail
wagged nonstop. It
felt like a baseball
bat smacking
against their legs
as they ran.
28
 Starlight and Blaze were munching grass,
their tails swishing to shoo flies off their backs.
Starlight took a carrot with her soft lips.
Reed pointed. “Hey, look—Starlight has a
flyswatter tail! Kind of like the one I drew in
our game!”
“Yeah,” said Ana. “I don’t suppose Blaze
has a poison dart tail.”
“No, horses don’t, but you know who does?”
Leigha asked. “The skunk that lives under the
barn. All it has to do is lift its tail and squirt.
Poor Luna once got it full in the face. I bet the
stinky spray felt just like a poison dart to her.”
29
 “What other animals can we
find?” Reed asked.
“Let’s look in the pond,”
Leigha said. She led the way
toward the water and out onto
the pier. Opening the lid of
a small tub, she grabbed a
handful of fish food. “Watch for
the big red fish. There’s a white
one too.”

The food splashed into the water. Quick

as anything, the fish swam up to gobble it,
tails waving gracefully side to side.
“Are they steering with their tails?” said Ana.
“A steering wheel tail would be good for our
drawing game.”
“Or a gas pedal,” said Leigha, laughing. “Their
tails speed them up to get to the food.”
Suddenly there was a loud, fast hammering
sound. “What’s that?” asked Reed.

30
 The children looked toward the
edge of the pond, where the woods
began. A large woodpecker was
leaning into a hole at the top of a
dead tree. Wood chips were flying. At
times, all they could see of the bird
was its tail. The tail was turned
down toward the tree trunk to
hold the bird in place.
“He’s using his tail like the
kickstand on a bike!” said
Ana. “To prop his body up
so he won’t fall! Cool!”
Leigha pointed to the
bottom of the tree. “And
see that squirrel? His
tail is more like a fleecy
blanket!” she said. The
squirrel was sitting in the
grass, nibbling an acorn,
its tail wrapped cozily
around him.
“Too bad we don’t have
tails. Animals do so many
things with theirs,” said Reed.
Leigha laughed. “It would
make it hard to wear clothes! If
I put pants on our baby kittens,
their tails would stick straight up
and get in the way.”
“Baby kittens?” squealed Ana.
“You have kittens?”

31
 “Oh, I almost forgot. Come
see,” Leigha said. They raced off
to the barn. At first the kittens just
peeked out from the bales of hay.
Soon they were curious enough to
come wobbling out. Ana and Leigha
each cuddled a purring kitten, while
Reed found a little black one that wanted
to play. Round and round the kitten went,
trying to catch its tail, falling over on the
ground, and getting up to try again.
“What a cute little tail!” Ana said.
“It’s more like a toy, the way he’s chasing it!”
said Leigha.
Before they were tired of playing with the
kittens, they heard the call to dinner.

32
 “You were right, Mom,” said Leigha, as they
came in. “We saw all kinds of tails—steering
wheels, blankets, flyswatters . . .”
“Toys and kickstands,” Reed added.
“Sounds interesting,” said Leigha’s dad. “But
now go wash your hands and plop your own
tails down. Tacos are ready.”
“We don’t have tails, Uncle Pete!” said Ana.
“Sure you do!” he said. “You’ve got a coccyx
at the bottom of your spine, a tiny tailbone that
helps you sit up straight.”
Laughing, they sat down to a very good meal,
their tailbones propping them up well as they
bit into juicy tacos and talked about their fun
afternoon.

33
 Thumbs Up! by Emily Cambias

C an you touch your thumb to

each of your fingertips? Most
animals ccan’t. You can
becau use you have what
called an opposable
th
humb on each hand.
Those thumbs make
T
it easy for you to o throw a ball, eat a
sandwich, turn the pages of a book,
button your shirt, and so
much more.
m
What would
life be like if
you didn’t havee
th
humbs? Put a pa air of
soocks over your ha ands
and d see.

Photo acknowledgments: Cover yakub88/[Link]; 2 (LC) Avalon/Photoshot License/Alamy Stock Photo; 8–9 (spots) Hans-Joerg Nisch/[Link], saicle/[Link]; 10–12 (spots) Horyn
Myron/[Link], Macrovector/[Link]; 12 (LT) Volodymyr Burdiak/[Link]; 12 (RC) Alan Tunnicliffe/[Link]; 12 (LC) ArCaLu/[Link]; 12 (RB) Thanisnan Sukprasert/
[Link]; 12 (LB) Edwin Butter/[Link]; 13 (RT) outdoorsman/[Link]; 13 (LB) Maria Sivtseva/[Link]; 14 (RT) Agnieszka Bacal/[Link]; 14 (LC) JonathanC Photography/
[Link]; 14 (RB) Japan's Fireworks/[Link]; 15 (LT) slowmotiongli/[Link]; 15 (RC) Audrey Snider-Bell/[Link]; 15 (LB) Geoffrey Kuchera/[Link]; 16 (RT) Milan
Zygmunt/[Link]; 16 (LC) worldswildlifewonders/[Link]; 16 (RB) Henk Bentlage/[Link]; 17 (RT) richard sowersby/Alamy Stock Photo; 17 (RC) N. Gonzalez Milian/Shutterstock
.com; 17 (LB) Richard Burn Photography/[Link]; 18 (RT) Chris Hellier/Alamy Stock Photo; 18 (LB) Russell Watkins Wildlife Photography/Alamy Stock Photo; 19, 20 (spots) GraphicsRF/Shutterstock
.com, ecliptic blue/[Link], NHPA/Photoshot/Science Source; 19, 21 (spots) Clara/[Link], Rich Carey/[Link]; 20 (LT) NET_Photog/[Link]; 20 (RC) Bence Mate/NaturePL/
Science Source; 20 (LB) Colette3/[Link]; 21 (RT) Rich Carey/[Link]; 21 (BC) Zuzule/[Link]; 22 (TC) Digitalstock23/[Link]; 22 (LB) BLFootage/[Link]; 23 (spots)
KsushaArt/[Link]; 23 (LT) jeep2499/[Link]; 23 (RC) Eric Isselee/[Link]; 23 (LB) [Link]/[Link]; 24 (RT) 249 Anurak/[Link]; 24 (LC) SORNNARIN NANKRATOK/
[Link]; 24 (RB) Anant Kasetsinsombut/[Link]; 25 (RT) sarayuth3390/[Link]; 25 (LC) Ted Kinsman/Science Source; 25 (BC) Steve Gschmeissner/Science Source; 25 (RB) Eye of Science/
Science Source; 26 (LT) Torychemistry/[Link]; 26 (RB) linyoklin/[Link]; 34 (LC) Purple Clouds/[Link]; 34 (RT) MASTER PHOTO 2017/[Link]; 34 (BC) LightField Studios/
[Link]; 38 (clockwise from LT) slowmotiongli/[Link], godi photo/[Link], Henner Damke/[Link], Vanessa Volk/[Link], Samuel Borges Photography/Shutterstock
.com, Yerbolat Shadrakhov/[Link], mehmetkrc/[Link], Matt Knoth/[Link], AB Photographie/[Link], Jiri Prochazka/[Link], Robert L Kothenbeutel/Shutterstock
.com, worldswildlifewonders/[Link], Nenad Nedomacki/[Link], slowmotiongli/[Link], John A. Anderson/[Link]; 39 (clockwise from LT) serg_dibrova/[Link], RLS
Photo/[Link]; Ross Stevenson/[Link], subin-ch/[Link], VasekM/[Link], Videowokart/[Link], Christine_Gneh/[Link], Stanislav Duben/[Link],
Christian Musat/[Link], gracethang2/[Link]; back cover (LC) KHANISTHA SRIDONCHAN/[Link]; back cover (RC) Putase/[Link].

34
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 Tail Tally
by Stacey Lane

A game for 2 players

What You Need:

A pile of pennies
A pile of nickels
* No pennies? No problem. Other coins work too as long
as the pile is all the same kind.
Goal: To be the first player to make a full row on the
board (across, down, or diagonal).
How to Play:
The first player flips a penny.
If the penny lands on tails, the player puts that penny on
any empty spot on the board where there is an animal
with a tail.
If the penny lands on heads, the player puts that penny
on any empty spot on the board where there is an animal
with no tail.
The second player does the same thing with a nickel.
The players keep taking turns, while trying to make a full
row and block the other player from getting five in a row.
If a player flips tails but there are no tailed animals left
uncovered on the board (or if the player flips heads but
there are no tailless critters left), that player loses a turn.
Then the other player gets to switch any two coins that
are next to each other on the board.
The first player to line up five coins in a row wins!
 o Octt

ee
e

ider
der
er

Fii

Ki i
CLICK TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold. CLICK TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold. CLICK TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold.
a le
ea

To
o

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eaver
n ra

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i er
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ers n